A surprised Tesla owner recently returned to their car in a parking garage to find it had been vandalized. Luckily, their side view camera captured the culprit who had keyed the car.
After leaving a doctor's appointment, a San Diego resident and her son found her car with a massive scratch on the side. With no witnesses, they checked the footage from the Tesla's driver-side camera and saw a woman had actually keyed the car twice for unknown reasons.
CBS 8 spoke to those involved, reporting the victim's son as saying, "She like goes into her trunk and she like gets her key out, and you can see, she comes around and that's when she keys the car."
Viewers can see the footage and the moments the car is keyed. "We got her the first time that she came through, keyed the car and then she comes around again and she keys the car for the second time," the son continued. She can also be seen checking her car for damage or wiping something off.
This is not a stand-alone incident. There has been some backlash to environmental progress; acts like keying a Tesla have been seen before, as well as an intimidation tactic known as "rolling coal," in which people modify their cars to spew dark diesel smoke.
There has unfortunately been an uptick in environmental backlash in recent years, with some states even outright banning government funds to be invested with climate-focused investors. While it is hard to say if this particular person was motivated by a dislike for assumed views the Tesla represents, it isn't possible to rule it out either.
"It's hard especially since this is just a random lady that we didn't even do anything to," said the son.
Teslas are environmentally friendly, but they are also expensive to repair, with this paint job potentially costing more than $3,000. The crime has been reported to the police, and the victims have both footage and the license plate of the perpetrator, so there is some hope they get justice.
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